The Veterans Administration currently has four
hospitals and 55 medical clinics under construction around the country since
1998. According to House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, all
four hospital projects and 38 of the clinic projects are behind schedule, with
a dozen of the clinic projects delayed more than three years. Total
construction costs for the 59 buildings: $442 million.
“I am not assured the VA has the right team in
place to oversee and manage these projects,” Miller says. “We have seen across
VA contracting that there are deep rooted problems, and leadership allows these
problems to persist. We hear over and over in testimony that no one is to
blame, or held to account. Someone must be accountable for these problems. It
appears we have a leadership vacuum which is an even larger problem.”
The delayed VA hospital projects are in Denver, Las
Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando. Denver’s hospital construction was delayed over
a year when VA changed the concept from a hospital to a clinic, then later back
to a hospital. Typical construction delays set the Las Vegas hospital project
back four months. In New Orleans, the hospital project was delayed two years
because the City of New Orleans failed
to deliver “construction ready” land from November 2009 until April 2011. In Orlando,
the hospital project was set back and pushed over budget by medical equipment
purchase decisions that required repeated changes in the designed sizes of
rooms to house the equipment.
Chairman Miller says the agency needs to develop an
improved construction procurement process. “Until VA applies private sector
principles to mitigate cost increases and schedule delays, we’ll have these
problems,” he concludes.
